The present invention relates to a controlling program, a controlling apparatus, an image forming apparatus and a print controlling method, and specifically relates to a controlling program, a controlling apparatus, an image forming apparatus and a print controlling method, each for controlling the variable-data printing in which elements such as destinations, etc. may be changed from one printed piece to the next.
In recent years, there have been increasingly proliferated in the market various kinds of copiers or multi-functional apparatuses, each provided with a combination of plural functions, such as a copy function, a facsimile function, a printer function, a scanner function, etc., (hereinafter, referred to as an image forming apparatus as a general term for each of them). Further, some of recently developed image forming apparatuses have been provided with such the printing function called the variable-data printing that makes it possible to change printing elements, such as text, graphics and images, from one printed piece to the next without stopping or slowing down the printing process. By employing such the variable-data printing function, it has become possible to easily cerate direct mails addressed to a plurality of customers.
When conducting the variable-data printing, it is also possible to change a kind of paper sheets to be employed in the printing. For instance, Tokkai 2003-323289 (Japanese Non-Examined Patent Publication) sets forth a variable-data printing apparatus, which makes it possible either to designate a specific paper sheet by including paper-sheet feeding information into the print data as the variable field, or to designate non-printing of a specific page by including printing yes-or-no information as well.
Since the upward improvement of the reply ratio and the sales proliferation effect, each of which can be achieved by appeal powers to the users, are required in the various fields of the variable-data printing, represented by the direct mailing field, it has been one of important methods for achieving the abovementioned goals to change a kind of paper sheet for specific users.
However, according to the variable-data printing apparatus set forth in Tokkai 2003-323289 cited in the above, it is necessary to designate a kind of paper sheet for every master document data to be employed for the printing. Concretely speaking, the contents (for instance, characters, images such as photographic pictures, etc.) to be inserted into the variable field in the master document data are to be determined by referring to each of records stored in the reference file, which is separately provided. Accordingly, the reference file should be newly updated for every master document data to be employed for the printing. Therefore, the operator should designate what kind of paper sheet is employed for each of the users concerned, every time when he creates the master document data. Accordingly, there has been a problem that it is impossible to easily cope with such a demand that the high-quality paper sheets should be always employed for a specific destination (a specific user), irrespective of whether or not conducting operations for updating the master document data, or newly creating them.
Further, the abovementioned problem would arise, not only when a kind of paper sheet should be changed, but also when the operator wishes to change the form of the print products for the specific destination without changing the contents of the print products, as well.